The Federal Trade Commission is encouraging companies to adopt age verification technologies by announcing it will not enforce a children’s online privacy law against certain websites that collect and use minors’ personal data in order to verify their ages. “Age verification technologies are some of the most child-protective technologies to emerge in decades,” Christopher Mufarrige, […]
Department of Homeland Security agents “made misrepresentations” to gain access to a Columbia University residential building and detained a student early Thursday morning, according to a statement issued by the school. “Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person,'” […]
160 Democratic lawmakers from across the country are backing a soon-to-be-introduced bill that would reverse the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate IRS Direct File. The Direct File Act, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), would bring back the option to file taxes directly with the government for free. The Biden […]
Google is planning to test changes to how it displays search results for certain topics, nearly a year after it was charged with violating antitrust rules in the European Union, Reuters reports. The shift will show top-ranked rival services for hotels, flights, restaurants, and transportation higher up in results, rather than prioritizing Google’s own services […]
For more than six decades, the Peace Corps has represented itself as an agency focused on helping underserved communities around the globe. But a new initiative, called the “Tech Corps,” threatens to unravel the agency’s original mission by recruiting de facto Silicon Valley salespeople to promote the biggest names in AI – many of which […]
President Donald Trump tried to quell Americans’ concerns about rising electricity costs during his State of the Union speech by claiming that he’s negotiated a “rate payer protection pledge” with major tech companies, which would see them build out or pay for new electricity generation for their data centers. Leaders from Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, […]
Kalshi, the prediction betting market, has disclosed its first fines for insider trading, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. In addition to handing down a $20,000 fine to a MrBeast editor, Kalshi also charged a California gubernatorial candidate over $2,000 after a video on X “appeared to show him trading on his own […]
Apple is bringing age verification to the UK, as the latest iOS 26.4 beta prompts users to verify that they’re over 18 following installation. As shown in screenshots posted to Reddit, Apple says users who don’t confirm their age “will not be able to download and purchase apps or make in-app purchases.” In one of […]
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Age verification is a reality on a growing number of social media platforms, requiring an ID or facial scan for full access to everything from YouTube to Roblox. The age-gating wave is coming along with calls for stronger child safety measures online, despite concerns about privacy, security, and censorship. In the US, lawmakers are pushing […]